Another Summer Tote

I made this one for my sister-in-law after she said that her favorite colors are orange and yellow.

I was short on orange and yellow fabrics.  I wanted to keep the print images small, so I picked this darker fabric with little specs on it for the pocket, but it kind of eclipsed the tote, so I added the stripes to match the straps.  It makes the tote look a bit sporty, which wasn't my intention, but does brighten up the front.  A while back my husband offered to get me an embroidery machine, and I thanked him, but said no because I didn't have the room for one.  This is a case where putting embroidery on the front pocket would have looked nice.  Oh well.

This is the first time I did not follow the directions on how to position the magnetic snap tabs.  The instructions have you set it up so that the tabs hang down while connected.  I wanted to see how it would work out if I overlapped them.  Turns out it worked out just fine.

I love this fabric.  I can't believe I had it just sitting around in my stash all these years.

Summer Tote

My daughter picked out the colors of yellow and blue for her tote.  I laid out groups of fabric and texted pictures of them to her from my mobile phone.  I gave her a choice of two pockets or four.  She chose four, and then I gave her the choice of having all four pockets on the front or around the bottom half of the tote.  This is the final product...

I've been working from my old stash of fabric, so I find it amazing that the blues and yellows of all three fabrics matched perfectly in tone and style.  My daughter has an artistic eye.

Lessons learned from this project:

1.  Stop back-stitching when the instructions tell me to baste.  Baste means that I'm going to need to rip out the stitches in the future.  I managed to tack the tops of each pocket pleat closed.  If I chose to rip out the stitches, I would have destroyed the fabric, because I actually triple stitched those areas.  I decided to leave the pockets as is since items will be less likely to fall out with the top of the pockets being tighter than the middles.  In the future I will have to highlight the word "baste" throughout the instructions and perhaps hand baste instead of using the machine on its longest setting.

2.  The sky fabric was more like a dyed sheet fabric than quilting cotton, so it was quite fragile to work with.  No matter how much ironing I did, it just kept wrinkling as soon as I touched it.  Also, the edges lost a lot of real estate as it shed threads along the way.  I probably should have serged all the edges before sewing.  For any bag I plan to sell, I'll have to check the quality of the cotton.

3.  I keep forgetting the proper iron settings for each layer.  The fabric can handle the cotton setting, while the interfacing and fleece cannot.  I'm not supposed to touch the iron directly to the fleece or it will shrink and burn.  Every time that I have to iron a piece of fabric that already has some fleece attached, the fleece falls off and I have to sew it on.  So, in the future I'm going to need an iron settings cheat sheet to save me the time lost when having to correct damage caused by hasty ironing.

Now, onto the next project...

Totes and Purses

My son gave me a tote and purse pattern for Christmas, Butterick Waverly Patterns B6148 Tote Bags Sewing Template, so I've been spending my time in quarantine learning how to sew them.

This red bandana and cowhide print tote was my first attempt.

I've never been adept at reading and comprehending sewing patterns.  My first mistake was to read the phrase "fleece lining" and interpret it as "flannel lining".  I caught my error before doing any cutting, but decided to use the flannel for the interior fabric lining.

The fleece and the fusible interfacing are what give the guts of the bag its structure.  I knew I would want to make several bags, so I ordered a whole bolt of fleece and a whole roll of interfacing.

I thought I had put the magnetic snaps on backwards because they connect with the tabs hanging down inside the tote, but when I made my second tote, I followed the directions closely and found that was the correct way to install the closure.  I find it to be kind of useless when it comes to keeping to opening of the purse closed.  I might design my own closures in the future.

I sewed my second tote for a friend of my daughter who loves sea turtles.

My daughter picked out the purple fabrics on the pocket, handles and interior.  Purple and teal are my favorite colors.

The second bag went together much faster.

I switched to a different pattern for my third tote.  This one has pockets with Velcro flaps on the front, and a zipper closure on top.

Who knew having a zipper would make the project exponentially more complex?  But, I'm proud of myself because I took it slow and figured it out.

One thing I would do differently with the design is make the pockets longer top to bottom, or install a second set of pockets above the ones on the bottom.  I made this for my daughter-in-law, whose birthday is in a few days, so I don't want to mess with it right now.  I have to allow for shipping time.  But I do plan to design my own totes and purses as I get more familiar with the construction process.

I can't tell you how many times I read the pattern instructions and said, "This doesn't make any sense."

I ended up just having to do it to see how it all came together.  For instance, I couldn't figure out why they were making me jump through hoops to sew pieces together one way when there was a much faster, much simpler way.  It turned out that I had to jump through hoops in order to get all the seams hidden in the end.  The last step of installing the interior fabric panels required whipstitching by hand.

Another thing I will do differently is sew on the Velcro as a later step, because the pattern instructions have you sew on the Velcro right away, and I melted one of the Velcro pieces when ironing the seams.  I had to detach it and sew on a new one so that the flap would close.

I chose this grassy green fabric for the interior.  I like that this tote has a backpack or luggage feel to it.

Partially Redesigned Tunic

Several years ago loose flowing swing tunic tops were a dime a dozen and with my expanding middle aged belly they quickly became my favorite style.  However, today they are getting more and more difficult to find.  I not only love this style because it is comfortable and covers unsightly bulges, but the knit fabrics don't shrink up like cotton tops.  Pretty much every cotton top or T-shirt I've owned shrunk up above the waistline of my jeans displaying my muffin top and underpants, so I had to either use those shirts as rags or donate them to charity, thinking maybe they'd fit a short-waisted child or doll.

I was inexperienced with sewing knits, but found this beautiful fabric in my favorite combination of colors online.  I ordered the fabric first, and then searched high and low for a pattern that resembled what I wanted to make.  I quickly discovered that what I wanted did not exist in pattern form, so I ordered the McCall's EASY stich 'n save M9240 medical smock pattern.  It was close to what I was looking for, and I figured I could make the adjustments necessary to get it closer to my goal.

I did my research on how to sew knit fabrics, bought special sewing machine needles and made sure my machine was on the appropriate settings.  However, I learned that you cannot sew knits without first pinning, then basting, then sewing in small increments.  If you think, "This section can just get sewn without all the prerequisites..." you're wrong.  Knits require careful attention and positioning.  Almost every time the fabric on the bottom layer got bunched up and I had to break out the seam ripper.

Perhaps my biggest struggle was with the pattern instructions.  Not only were there typos, but sections were mislabeled.  The diagrams didn't make sense, the instructions didn't make sense, the steps were out of order...  It wasn't until I just decided to toss the instructions aside that I started making progress.  Common sense served me better in piecing this top together.

In order to get the top more like I envisioned, I had to lengthen both the bodice and the skirt hem.  The black waistband didn't really sit at the waist, but just below the bust of the young, perky-boobed model in the picture.  With me having a middle aged bust, I needed that waistline more down at my actual waist.  I also like my tunics to be as long as mini dresses.

Unfortunately, my adjustments weren't as simple as just lengthening the main sections in equal parts.  As I pieced the top together I discovered that I didn't take several aspects into consideration.

For instance, the dickey between the black V needed to be longer too.  I fixed that by inserting a second dickey above the original dickey.  They both were loose, so they have a draping effect that I kind of like.  I might use this technique in the future.  It not only gives me more control over the draping, but also which colors I want to be front and center.  I purposefully chose a blue piece of fabric since the original dickey was purple.

I also forgot to lengthen the black V frame.  I needed to use that black knit material for future tops, so I didn't want to cut out completely new pieces.  Instead, I just added little squares onto the existing pieces so as not to waste material.  Interestingly, the seams are barely noticeable since the fabric is black and solid.

My other big mistake was the I didn't realize that in the pattern, the black waistband only covers the front, but not the back of the top, so the front ended up being a couple of inches longer.  I'm currently debating on fixing this by either bringing up the hem in the front to match the back, or by taking it apart, cutting the back at the waist, and adding in another black band.  Somehow I ended up with an extra black band, so I already have it.  That fix will take a lot more time, but I think I will be happier with it in the long run.

If I really want to improve on it, and if I have enough fabric left over, I might just make a whole new back skirt that is looser and doesn't hug my butt, expanding the slit.  I also screwed up the slits by not taking the time to measure them.  One is much longer than the other.  I doubt anyone will look at my clothes that closely, but it will bug me.

I figured that if I screwed up something, it would be the sleeves, but I actually did a pretty good job on them.  Since knits tend to stretch and bunch up, any slight variation in length between the sleeves is hardly noticeable.

Though the fabric is tighter than I care for in the rear, the overall top fits amazingly well.  I'm proud of myself, because this time I actually fitted it to my own body at different points during the process.  What a difference that simple task made in the end.  After attempting to sew my last top, I thought I'd never try again.  It was such a disaster.  After years of work, I had nothing to show for it and wear.  All that fabric had to go into the scraps bin.  This latest top, however, can definitely be worn.  Keeping my expectations low leads to much more happiness and satisfaction.

Sorry about the blurry pictures.  I didn't want to spend hours setting up a camera with a self-timer on a tripod.  I'm having one of those days when my dogs need to go outside to potty every few minutes, so I don't have much time to spare on getting this post perfect.  If I have time in the future to take better photos, I'll edit them in.

Neo Gets a Jacket

Of course, most jackets only go down to the waist, but I figure that dogs' butts get cold too.  Amazingly, they don't pee or poop on the fabric because they lift their legs and tails when they do their business, which moves the fabric out of the way. 

I managed to put Neo's jacket together in a couple of hours.  I took his measurements and did some calculations, but I miscalculated how much fabric I'd need for the hem, so this jacket is a bit big.  I had to add more Velcro to the straps to wrap them tighter.  Oh well, at least he's got room to grow into it.  When I made a jacket for Stewie when he was around Neo's age, he immediately grew out of it and I had to make another one.

I picked out a couple of fabrics and laid them on the floor.  I asked Neo which one he liked, and he stood on this fabric.  I didn't even realize it, but both Neo and Stewie's jackets have butterflies on them.  I think they are both Hoffman fabrics.  I've been saving them for quilting, but I came to the realization one day that even if I lived to be 100, there wouldn't be enough days left in my life for me to make quilts out of all of the fabrics in my stash, so I may as well use them for other projects as they arise.

My Latest Sewing Project

I belong to some quilting groups online, and I'm always inspired by what I see.  I want to start working on a quilt, but I have to first finish my current project because it is taking up every square inch of my work space in my sewing room.  I have a certain style of tops I like to wear.  I love flowing tunic tops that drop down below crotch level.  Very few people make jeans nowadays with a high enough waist to cover up underpants, so I try to cover my underpants with long tops.  I also like to cover my butt while I'm at it.

Very few places carry tunic tops anymore, or if they do, they are way too short or way too tight to be called tunic tops.  I don't need stretchy fabric clinging to my middle-aged tummy pouch.  So, I decided one day to just start sewing my own tops since I knew what I wanted.  The problem is that whenever I try to make garments from scratch, the dimensions are way off and the final result is unwearable.  You almost need an engineering degree to design clothing patterns.  I hate having to cut up clothing projects I spent months or years working on only to have no choice but to use the scraps for something else.  Fabric isn't cheap.

So, I needed a professional pattern to work off.  Of course, there were no patterns that fit what I wanted to make, so I had to find something that was close, and then alter it to fit my criteria.  I stupidly thought it was as simple as making the skirt part of the top longer and wider, but then found out that meant I also had to lengthen the lining.  Ugh.  I totally forgot to do that, so I had to tack on little squares of fabric, which looks awful.  I didn't know if I'd have enough fabric to make new lining from scratch and I wasn't willing to order more because I could see that this project was going to wind up being another failure no matter what I did.  I was now in damage control mode.

The pattern I bought had several errors in the instructions and I was struggling to understand what they really meant to write.  I'd read the instructions over and over and stared at the diagrams, but I couldn't make heads or tails of any of it.  I finally decided to just use common sense.

I started making good progress today when I realized that this was too easy.  Something had to be wrong.  Something was always wrong when it came to sewing.  I looked closer at my work and saw that the bobbin thread had run out four pin removals ago.  Argh!  I had to re-pin the seam and re-thread the machine after fixing the bobbin issue.

I went back to work and finished that step.  The next step of the instructions made no sense to me.  I did what they showed in the picture, and then realized that I was supposed to serge the raw edge of the lining before tacking it down.  I didn't want to rip out the seams of the tacking because I had already had to rip out the seams of one shoulder to get it to line up, so I just serged around the tacking.

I was feeling proud of myself for pushing on despite the setbacks, when I stood up and looked down to see that I had accidentally stepped on the tie to the top and ripped it off the garment.  One step forward -- two steps back. 

"Oh well, I can sew it back on really quick," I told myself.

Nope!  Somehow in that one inch of fabric I needed to sew, the thread got bunched up under the foot and my garment got jammed in the machine.  When it rains -- it pours.  I know when to quit.  Time for some oatmeal cookies.

Sunflower Pillow

I completed a pillow made with Dimensions Dramatic Sunflower Needlepoint Kit, which contained presorted wool yarn, full color print on 12 mesh canvas, and instructions.  The design is by Lisa Audit and the finished canvas is 14x14 inches.

I enjoyed the needlepointing.  There were a couple of colors on the canvas that were difficult to tell apart, but the pattern is logical enough to figure it out. I chose this fabric for the backing because it mimicked the colors and shapes of the design on the front:

I had some difficulty re-shaping the canvas after I finished the needlepoint.  Because they recommend the continental stitch, the square canvas ended up more like a parallelogram.  I sprayed it with water and tried to stretch it back into a square on a bulletin board using pins, but after several attempts at that process without making much progress, I gave up.  I think in the future I will always do the basketweave stitch, even if the continental stitch is recommended.

Sewing it together was a fiasco, as always.  At first, everything was going suspiciously smoothly.  It was looking like I might get it done in one sitting and have time to do barn chores and make dinner.  Just when I began feeling elated over my good fortune, I turned the pillow over and saw that the backing fabric got bunched up and sewed down that way.  Out came the seam ripper.  I must have removed some pins prematurely.

Once I re-sewed the fabric down flat with the help of more pins, all I needed to do was double stitch another row around the perimeter of the pillow.  I could do that in one minute.  However, the thread broke.  Cut to re-threading the machine.  Then the needle broke.

I insisted upon being undaunted by all these challenges and worked as fast as I could to fix them.  I was determined to get that pillow done since I was so close.  However, the screw I needed to loosen to change the needle would not budge.  I had to locate some oil, oil it, and then hunt around in my husband's toolbox for some needle-nose pliers.  Once the needle was finally changed, I was on my way, whizzing along the border until the bobbin thread ran out.

Hands in air, I gave up.  I was running out of time to take care of my other responsibilities.  This morning, I put more thread on the bobbin and finished sewing the last row of stitches.  Then I turned it inside out and stuffed the pillow form inside.  Still a parallelogram.  Oh well.

I think the biggest insult in this entire project was when I suddenly remembered while sewing the last side of the pillow together that I forgot, once again, to include piping, lace or ruffles in the border.  This forgetfulness is getting to be a habit with me.  I think black lace would have looked nice, but there's no way I'm going to rip all those stitches out now.

My Amish Quilt

My husband and I recently traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for our son's wedding, and while in Amish country, we perused a couple of quilt shops.  My husband wanted to purchase a quilt for a full bed in our back bedroom.  He was drawn to a beautiful cream and white applique quilt, but I had to remind him of our dog.  Then we debated over a fantastic Tumbling Blocks quilt.  After much deliberation, we agreed on purchasing this one:

This is a Curvy Log Cabin by Rachel Lantz.  We purchased it from Village Quilts at Kitchen Kettle Village in the small town of Intercourse, PA.  Yes, it was very expensive, but handmade, heirloom quality quilts often increase in value with age, so we're considering it an investment.

I normally prefer bright colors.  My husband and I have learned that we each see colors differently.  What I see as yellow, he sees as white.  What I see as orange, he sees as red.  The two colors that have the strongest saturation for me are teal and purple, so I love those two colors together.  I gravitate toward them.  We had seen a purple and teal quilt in another shop, but it was king sized and appeared to be mostly machine sewn.  Most of the quilts available at the second shop we visited had subtle, more neutral color schemes, but this one caught my eye because of its use of batik fabrics.  There were small sections of teal and purple that jumped out at me.

When I first started quilting nearly 30 years ago, I loved the batik fabrics, but could not afford to buy them.  When I first saw this Curvy Log Cabin quilt, it was hanging on a rack.  Linda Wenzler spread it out for us on a bed and it really popped.  I couldn't take my eyes off it.  Every time I look at it, I see something else I hadn't seen before.  Even the white portion has different fabrics of varying whites and off-whites, some solids, some patterns, adding to the dimension.  Just the complexity of the design is awe-inspiring.

I learned so much from Linda.  Her shop sells one-of-a-kind quilts.  Nothing is mass produced.  They may carry quilts of the same pattern, but there is always some variation.  The artists sometimes have small groups of quilters help them piece and quilt the bedspreads together, but the quilts are mostly hand-sewn.  You can view their quilts online.  I had mine shipped to me to avoid finding room for it in our suitcase.  It arrived in a special case with care instructions.

We took a quick spin around the countryside on our way to the airport and came upon many horse drawn carriages, as well as men and horses plowing fields.

The wedding was beautiful.  Now that we are home, I've been getting my ducks in a row to prepare for my total hip replacement surgery.  My daughter is here helping keep things running smoothly around the ranch while I'm off my anti-inflammatory medication in the week before the surgery.  The surgeon promises that I will feel much better soon.  He said that the damage from my arthritis is severe.  While that's not a good thing, it was nice to hear a doctor finally acknowledge all the pain I've been in these past few years.

It's been hard having people ask me to do simple things, and me having to stave off panic attacks knowing how painful doing that one task is going to be for me.  I've actually spent the past couple of years of my life trying to keep people at arm's length so that they won't ask me to do anything outside of my normal routine.  Every little thing has been a big deal for me.  It will be nice to get back to some normalcy and not have to think twice about every action I take.

Two More Finished Needlepoint Pillows

I know what you're thinking:  How many pillows does one person need? 

Well, I don't need them, although they do come in handy propping up my laptop in my lap.  I just enjoy needlepoint.  It's a fairly mindless, easy craft one can do with her hands while focusing her attention elsewhere.  When I finish a canvas, I don't want to litter my walls with hangings, so I make pillows out of them and pile them in the corner of my craft room.  If I ever need to give someone a last minute gift, I can grab one, wrap it up really quick, and claim that I slaved over it for months just for that person. 

Here are my most recent projects...

The 14x14 one on the left is Dimensions Bouquet on Black, designed by Lisa Audit.  This one came with plenty of thread.  It was a bit of a struggle for me to differentiate between subtle tones in the threads, so I needed a lot of light while needlepointing it, but it's the fine details that make it look so realistic.

The 12x12 one on the right is Design Works Blue Floral.  The kit was a birthday gift from my daughter.  This one had acrylic yarn while the other project had thread.  Halfway through needlepointing the design, I realized I had been using the ice blue yarn instead of the light teal in too many places, and as a result, I ran out of the ice blue yarn.  Luckily, I just happened to have a skein of that exact same yarn color that I had been using for knitting projects, so I borrowed from that.  Just for the heck of it, I went over one section with the light teal after finishing with the ice blue to see what it would look like.  My plan was to cover the ice blue with the light teal and make those sections standing with extra thickness.  However, I liked the ice blue better than the teal, so my pillow is a cooler color than was intended with the kit.

It took a long time to get the pillows constructed because I had to order some trim and wait for it to come in.  I ordered a whole bolt of white cord with lip, and an assortment of laces in black, white, and pastel colors.  The whole time I was sewing the Blue Floral pillow together, I kept thinking, "This is too easy.  This is going too quick.  Something's wrong."

When I turned it outside in, I realized that I forgot to include the trim I'd been waiting for all those weeks!  See what I mean about my memory being bad?  I had them sitting right in front of me on the table and I still forgot to include them.  Then, just to add insult to injury, I discovered that I had no 12x12 pillow inserts!  After what happened with the trim, there was no way I was going to order 12x12 pillow inserts and wait for them to arrive, so I dug through my supplies and found some stuffing.  It worked just fine.

I chose off-white or vanilla lace for the big pillow, because there were a lot of shades of cream in the needlepoint.  These are the backing fabrics I chose for each out of my stash...

I don't buy fabric anymore because I went through a phase when I was ordering fabric at online sales much too often when I first started quilting.  Although I'm glad now that I did, because back then I could buy fabric for $3 to $8 a yard, and now it is much more expensive.  

Originally, I just bought purple and green fabrics for a king sized bed quilt I was making at the time, and I kept running out.  It was frustrating to get into a flow, only to have to stop work because of a lack of supplies.  So, I overcompensated by constantly buying fabrics to build up a stash until I needed to dedicate two floor-to-ceiling shelves to hold it all.  I've promised myself I won't buy anymore fabric until I've used what I already have.  

But I do accept gifts of fabric.  My sister-in-law sent me a beautifully coordinated set of fabrics by Robert Kaufman and Gustav Klimt for Christmas this year, and I can't wait to start tackling that quilt project.  We are definitely using quilts I've made in the past right now, because this has been the coldest winter I've experienced since living in Arizona.  Throwing a quilt over my bare feet sure beats struggling to put on socks with my arthritis.  

For those who are interested in what's going on in my life beyond crafts projects, my right hip has officially disintegrated.  The ball and socket are all jagged and I have several torn muscles.  I postponed hip replacement surgery until my son gets married, because I don't want there to be any complications that would prevent me from attending his wedding.  The wedding is in March, I should get my hip replaced in April and be done with physical therapy by June.  We'll see where it goes from there.  I'm anxiously waiting to see if I can ride horses again.

Small Dog Coat

A couple of years ago I ordered a custom dog jacket for my Chihuahua/Min Pin mix through an Etsy store.  Stewie wore it for two winters and it has served us well.  Recently, I saw a pattern for a dog coat and bought it to see if I could make a new one for him myself.  The pattern I used was Simplicity 1239.  The examples are super cute, such as a dog coat made to look like a football and a camouflage dog coat with pockets or saddle bags on the sides... 

Any time that I sew, my goal is to use my existing fabric stash, because I'm pretty sure that even if I lived another 50 years, I wouldn't have enough time to make something out of all that fabric I've bought, washed, and stashed throughout my lifetime believing that "some day" I will make something with it.  After perusing my shelf full of dusty fabrics, I decided to make my dog look like a butterfly...

And I found some bright colored flannel to line the inside of the coat.  The colors match!

My only issue with Stewie's first coat was that it was too short and didn't cover his bum, so I made sure that this coat did that.  Still, I probably could have made it even longer...

I followed the pattern exactly, but the neck turned out to be too tight, and the material is constricting in the shoulders, so I'm going to make some adjustments on the pattern that include the following:

1.  Larger, deeper neckline.
2.  Less hang over the shoulders.
3.  Longer from neck to tail.
4.  Longer straps at both the neck and belly.

It's hard to see, but I sewed a D-ring onto the back to hook a leash up to.  I had fun making this.  It's quick and easy.  I think if I get really good at it and feel confident adjusting patterns to custom measurements, I might open my own Etsy shop selling these creations.  Of course, right now is not the season for it, so I've still got a few months to practice.  I'll also have to find some creations to make and sell that aren't dependent upon it being cold outside.